1980 Olds Cutlass 442

[TDY442]

you have great taste in cars ha ha. I also have a black and gold 1980 442 will very interesting to see what the future hold for your car good luck Jeff from Winnipeg

Nice ride.....I'll keep you posted.

 

[Jeff Blagden]

There is one more 1980 442 here in Winnipeg he has black and gold with the T - tops he put in a 455 cubic rocket and kept all the original motor and Transmission in his garage that is also an option have a good day Jeff

 

[L92 OLDS]

I'm new to this forum and I'm looking for some feedback.

I have a 1980 Olds Cutlass 442 W-30 that I bought new from Dale Baker Oldsmobile in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1980............... I have been in preliminary conversation with a very well known auto performance group in Katy, Texas that feels like they can "open up" my L34 350 by totally extracting the emisisons components, along with replacing the factory Rockchester carburetor with a Holley, adding dual exhaust and replacing some of the ignition components.

Any insight or feedback would be greatly appeciated.

Run from the "auto performance group in Katy" and keep the quadrajet carb! You will likely loose performance switching to the Edelbroke carb.

Cool story though....I clearly remember looking at 1983 / 1984 Hurst Olds at Dale Baker back in the day. They put the H/O cars on rotary turn tables outside....I was just a kid back then and was in total awe. Love it!

 

[WV CHEVY MANN]

Hello and welcome to the forum from West Virginia.. A great looking car you have there for sure ... Glad you are here ...

 

[Gonzo1970]

Run from the "auto performance group in Katy"

Care to explain?

I don't live in Katy, probably never will visit there, nor deal with this group, but I think a little explanation is in order?

-Gonz

 

[fleming442]

Care to explain?

I don't live in Katy, probably never will visit there, nor deal with this group, but I think a little explanation is in order?

-Gonz

Not really. Word of mouth is the best advertising, and one local, negative review is all I need. Throw "performance Oldsmobile engine" on top, and more than enough was said.

 

[Gonzo1970]

Not really. Word of mouth is the best advertising, and one local, negative review is all I need. Throw "performance Oldsmobile engine" on top, and more than enough was said.

Well, no offense, but you didn't say it.

And personally, I steer away from Olds engines... the 403 was the UN-Wanted motor in the Trans Am's.. I did enjoy the 350 Rocket I had in my 72 Cutlass Supreme, but it lacked the power I thought it should have had after the work I'd done to it... Parts cost is nuts... And, well, any G-Body Olds Engine just... wasn't all that.

-Gonz

 

[fleming442]

That's okay. There are a few Olds enthusiasts here to help those that dare to be different.

 

[Canon_Mutant]

Oops, my bad. I had forgotten that [what] 81 officially for the CCC but I am almost certain my buddy in CA had an 80 with a CCC. Was not a W30 though.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Well, no offense, but you didn't say it.

And personally, I steer away from Olds engines... the 403 was the UN-Wanted motor in the Trans Am's.. I did enjoy the 350 Rocket I had in my 72 Cutlass Supreme, but it lacked the power I thought it should have had after the work I'd done to it... Parts cost is nuts... And, well, any G-Body Olds Engine just... wasn't all that.

-Gonz

Again, a few of us disagree. Why are you in this thread? The car is a factory Olds 350, unfortunately the worst version ever made. The 403 had less than 8 to 1 compression and 187 duration .400 lift cam, of course it is unwanted compared to the Pontiac 400 which had a hot cam, more compression and better heads. Do that to 403 and it performs about the same, go figure. What did you do to your 350? Anything short of replacing the factory soup dish pistons is a waste of time, 8 to 1 compression motors don't perform with restrictive heads, I wasted too much time on them trying to make them perform at the track. A simple bump in compression with better heads and more lift from 1.72 roller rockers put me in the 14's, a better cam would have put me in the 13's, everything needs to right or nothing performs. A higher stall converter is also critical to better performance along with better gearing.